Archive for the ‘3D Tutorials’ Category

Sculpted Prim Wine Glass

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

A wine glass is one of the first things most people make when they learn to use a 3D program. It’s fun and it’s easy.

Making a sculpted prim wine glass for Second Life is equally fun. In fact, it’s almost exactly the same except you need to UV map it before you upload it. A simple cylindrical map will do. Here’s a video to show you how using AC3D.

Wineglass Video
Click to download video

The step-by-step:

  1. Draw a polyline that will form the outer edge of your wineglass.
  2. (Optional) Use the spline tool to make your polyline into a smooth curve.
  3. Revolve the polyline around the Y axis 360 degrees. The more segments you use the smoother it will be, but the more polygons. You don’t need very many polygons, so don’t overdo it.
  4. Using the UV map tool, apply a cylindrical wrap around the Y axis.
  5. Export!


Here are the UV map settings I used.

When you import it into SL, be sure to set your mapping mode to cylindrical. If you don’t, the top and bottom of the glass will be solid instead of hollow.


Set the Stitching Type to Cylinder.

Download the model here.

Joint Deformation Tutorial

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

Jonathan Rush at pig-brain has an excellent tutorial on building 3D character joints so they animate properly. Building shoulders and elbows that deform properly is something a lot of new artists have difficulty with, and even experienced artists struggle with from time to time–especially when working low-poly!

Read the Tutorial

Metal Gear Case Study

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

The SoftImage site has a great case study on the making of MGS4 with lots of wonderful images for those of you interested in some behind-the-scenes pictures of the game design process.

Parallel Processing in a Nutshell

Friday, August 29th, 2008

A friend sent me the link to this video, and I have to say, this is the most clear and direct explanation of the difference between linear processing and concurrent processing I’ve ever seen. …That, and it’s just darn cool to watch a 1100 barrel paintball gun get fired.

Lighting for Games

Tuesday, June 17th, 2008

Eric Gooch of Insomniac has an excellent tutorial on Creating the Lighting for Resistance: Fall of Man. The best part of the tutorial are the “before and after” shots that show how each scene looks lit and unlit. A lot of people underestimate the importance of good lighting, but these pictures really help make it clear. Well worth the read!